Double the Fist

Double the Fist is a satirical Australian television show that airs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; it has also been broadcast in the UK. It is often described as "a cross between The Goodies and Jackass". It follows the misadventures of four men and their pursuit of 'fistworthiness': The host, Steve Foxx (Craig Anderson), and his three offsiders, Rod Foxx (Bryan Moses), Mephisto (Doug Bayne), and The Womp (Tony Walters).

The four men who play the central characters have a long history. Anderson, Moses and Walters met at the University of Western Sydney – Anderson and Walters 'performing absurdist theatre' and Moses making amateur films. The three teamed up to make a short film entitled Life in a Datsun which won the best comedy award at the 1999 Tropfest film festival. It was here they met Bayne, who caught their eye with his computer-generated effects. The four men then made Dare TV, a spoof reality show for SBS, which received 100 complaints. Dare TV allowed the team to perfect their use of special effects and the pilot for Double the Fist was soon made. It was eventually picked up by the ABC's head of arts and entertainment, Courtney Gibson, and an eight-part series was approved.

A typical episode runs like this: Steve will set the Fist team a task. Completing this task will result in the presentation of the "Full Fist", which earns an individual respect amoungst the 'extreme community'. The team may have to compete with each other, or may have to work together. Steve Foxx is the only person who can present a Full Fist. Characters die frequently, sometimes several times an episode.

The show parodies many things about popular culture. Primarily the show is a spoof of shows like Jackass; where those shows do things that will injure and/or humiliate an individual, the Fist Team do things that would obviously kill them.

In 2004, Double the Fist won an AFI award in the category of Best Television Comedy- Sit-com or Sketch. In 2004 they also released a book.

Characters

• Steve Foxx is the host of Double the Fist. He invented the concept of Fistworthiness and "betterment through extremities." Steve's Page
• Rod Foxx (or "the Hot Rod" as he sometimes calls himself) is the younger brother of Steve Foxx. It is said he attends a sporting institute, and lists his job as 'all-round athlete'. His main interests include physical activity and singing. Although he does have a reasonable amount of sporting talent and can be successful on the dating scene, his ego knows no limits. He has 'released' a single, entitled "I C U (Picture Perfect)".Rod's Page
• Mephisto may or may not have been a security guard at one time or another, but it is certain that he did take a three week training course in security guarding, and has retained some of the knowledge from that course. According to the Double the Fist website, he is on the run from multiple taxation agencies. He was at one time temporarily possessed by an Aztec demigod. It would be safe to say that Mephisto is of questionable sanity. (By safe, it is meant "probably true"; questioning Mephisto's sanity would likely land you in a position of danger if Mephisto found out).Mephisto's page
• The Womp (aka Womp) is a character from Double the Fist. He used to have a day job performing backbreaking labor, and was also an amateur wrestler. However, a groin injury on the job forced him to give up his wrestling career. He was then offered, and accepted, a position on Double the Fist.The Womp is also mentally disabled, due to a brain injury when he was a child. Womp's page
• Blue Womp is a clone of Womp, with exactly identical physical features, although he is more self-centered and mean. He is so called because he wears blue in order to avoid confusion with the other Womp (who always wears red).
• Tina T is introduced in episode five, as a replacement for the missing-in-action Mephisto. She appears to be smarter than the rest of the team, but truthfully this isn't saying much. She and Rod had a brief romance, which ended when Rod tried to grope her while he thought she was dead.
• Panda is just that – a person in a panda suit. The character is almost always referred to as female. She will often show up to provide opposition (such as in episodes three and five), but will sometimes help Steve out by moderating races or chasing down enemies.

Recurring Segments

• Letter of the Weak: Steve reads out a letter he received during the week, and answers. All the letters in this segment are false. Steve is usually quite mean – most responses end with Steve yelling "You make me sick!" or "Don't ever watch this show again!"
• Mephisto Knows: Mephisto gives an editorial on whatever takes his fancy. Athletes, vegetarians and anti-marketers all come in for a serving. Mephisto is perhaps at his most unhinged during these segments. In the final episode, it is revealed that Mephisto is gay during a 'Mephisto Knows' – the joke being that he and the rest of the characters don't mention it at all apart from this one time.
• Fistory: The Womp presents what he considers to be fistworthy figures in world history. He often nominatees bizarre choices, such as the iceberg that sunk the Titanic. Although there is only one Fistory during the show, the DVD contains numerous other ones that were cut for reasons of time.
• Rod sporting clips: Although they have no collective name, there are numerous demonstrations of Rod's sporting prowess, including Fist Pong (ping pong with an insane amount of balls).
• What Was Weak?: Reversed footage of Panda smashing something with a cricket bat. You have five seconds to guess from the rubble what it was that Panda destroyed. Items include a garden gnome and an ostrich egg.
• How Low Will You Go?: Steve hits the streets of Australia to find how little money people need to be offered to do something disgusting. He will set out the challenge (such as drinking water drained from rubbish bins or eating five jars of mayonnaise in under an hour) and take bids. The person with the lowest bid can attempt the challenge, and if they succeed they get the money.

Episode 1: Vertical Challenge

In this first episode Steve challenges the Fist team to abseil – without any ropes or means of suspension. This episode includes Rod getting his legs waxed, Womp throwing watermelons off a cliff and Mephisto constructing a batsuit. First aired May 21st, 2004.

Episode 2: Extreme Makeover

Steve challenges the Fist team to improve the lifestyles of some weak viewers. This episode includes Mephisto's thoughts on tofu, a magician burning to death, and Rod teaching an elderly lady a very painful way to drink tea. First aired May 28th, 2004.

Episode 3: Fistathlon

Steve pits the Fist team against each other in attempt to make sport more fistworthy. This episode includes an extremely violent round of golf, a space-time vortex, and divulges Mephisto's hatred of road safety campaigns. This episode could also be the first appearance of Blue Womp. First aired 4th June, 2004.

Episode 4: Fear Factory

Reality television comes under fire this week, as Steve pits the Fist team and some guests against each other inside the world's most deadly factory. This episode includes Ugly Dave Grey in a cameo, Womp and Blue Womp arguing about cookery, and Rod fighting evil flying furniture. During this episode Mephisto gets possessed by an ancient Aztec demi-god, and disappears from the show until episode 6. First aired 11th June, 2004.

Episode 5: High School Challenge

In this episode, the Fist Team competes with some highschoolers in various challenges. Each challenge is worth 1 point. The team with the most points at the end is deemed the most fistworthy. Amoung the challenges were:

• Library Search: the teams were given the task of finding a golden key hidden in a book in the library. They were only given one clue. The Fist Team won by stealing the golden key after the highschoolers found it.
• Egg protection: Each team had to protect an egg from being smashed by Panda's cricket bat. The highschoolers made a contraption to protect it from high falls, and then dropped it off the side of the building, dissuading Panda from smashing it. The Fist Team quarrelled, so their strategy ended up being Blue Womp trying (and failing) to protect the egg with his body.
• History challenge (worth double points): The two teams were given the task of reenacting some famous battle from Australian history. The Fist Team won.

At the end of the episode, the Fist Team was the overall winner, 4–2. First aired 18th June, 2004.

Episode 6: Bush Bash

The episode begins with Steve deriding the ability of nonviolent protestors to ever accomplish anything. He then announces that there is a major logging operation taking place in a forest in Australia, and gives the fist team the assignment of stopping it; whoever eliminates the most loggers will have won. After several misadventures, the Womp, Rod, and Tina T manage to reach the main site of the logging operation, where it is revealed that Mephisto, possessed by an Aztec demigod is cloning pandas in a giant pyramid. The Womp pokes Mephisto in the eye, detaching the demigod from him. The dazed Mephisto orders the pandas to stop logging. Steve says that because Mephisto stopped the most loggers, he won the challenge. First aired 25th June, 2004.

Episode 7: Terrorism

This episode is slightly different from the others – it does not feature any of the recurring segments, and instead plays as a story. Steve challanges the team to stop a mysterious terrorist group, but when they are all taken hostage, it's up to Steve to save the day – and it turns out the head terrorist has a grudge against him. First aired 9th July, 2004.

Episode 8: Special Edition

This is a prank clip show episode, featuring previews for upcoming, and non-existent, episodes. It also has supposedly behind-the-scenes footage, expanded back stories for the characters, and some other miscellaneous clips like a music video featuring Rod Foxx on lead vocals. Steve claims on the website that he had a plan for a different episode, but ABC wouldn't let him broadcast it, so he had to throw together the "special edition" at the last minute. The false previews for the next eight episodes were paid off when they pretended the ABC had cancelled the series and faked being taken off air with two minutes left to go, with an intentionally bad replacement, Town and Country, being shown for the remainder of the time slot. First aired 16th July, 2004.

External Links

• Official website
• DVD cheat